National University - Docket Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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national ntoersitg It istoru ATIONAL University this year completes its seventieth year as a graduate Ji institution of learning. It was incorporated by an Act of Congress in June 1869, and from that year when Dr. William B. Wedgewood, its founder, and his associates made it possible to obtain a higher education of professional stand- ing, to this day. National University has forged steadily forward to become one of the country’s leading educational institutions in the professional field. Five presidents of the United States, Grant, Garfield, Hayes, Arthur and Cleveland have acted as Chancellor ex-efficio of the University as an idicia of the caliber of the men who directed the affairs in its formative years. Although instruction was first given in several professional fields, including a department of medicine, the tendency as the years passed was toward the law, and so it is to-day. Law constitutes the predominant branch of the University, but it should not be over ' ooked that the school of Economics and Government, conferring the degrees of AB, BS, BCS and MCS is also a vital factor in the academic branch. Because of its rapid growth and changing conditions it was found necessary to reorganize the University in 1896. A new charter was granted by a special Act of Congress, (129 Stat. L. 194), conferring the power to grant university degrees. The new incorporators were all men holding high and honored positions in the Federal Judicial service. At the death of President Cleveland the Board of Regents abolished the office of Chancellor ex-efficio and elected Arthur McArthur, then a justice on the District of Columbia Supreme Court bench as the first chancellor, and succeeding chancellors in the order of their service have been Samuel F. Miller, Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Richard H. Alvev, Chief Justice of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Eugene Carusi, LLD.. Charles F. Carusi, LLD., Hay- den Johnson, LLD., Charles S. Hatfield. LLD.. Justice of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals, and the present chancellor is Leslie C. Garnett. LLM., formerly an Assistant Attorney General of the United States and United States Attorney for the District of Columbia. Dr. Charles Pergler, a former Minister to Japan from Czechoslovakia is the Dean of the Law School. The School of Law is one of the largest in the United States, having an enroll- ment of over thirteen hundred students from every state in the Union and many foreign countries whose pre-legal education was received in college and univer- sities throughout the country. Over seven thousand graduates have gone forth to achieve distinction in the legal profession as members of the Bar and Bench in governmental and civil capa- cities and who have otherwise enjoyed unusual standing as successful practitioners. National University stands a monument to the unselfish devotion of those who have guided its destinies through seventy years and made it possible for ambitious students of moderate means to achieve a professional education of the highest standard. Eighteen D(DXOl5(3K IOIOr

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O F all its boasts National University has no greater claim to fame than its outstanding Faculty. Included in this dis- tinguished group of jurists are the Chief Justices of the Court of Appeals of the District of Columbia, and the United States Court of Claims; the Presiding Judge of the United States Court of Customs and Patent Appeals; a majority of the Justices of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia; and many other judges of the Federal and District Bench, past and present. Only in the National Capital could such an array of legal knowledge be gathered, and under such guidance a National gradu- ate slips from the role of student to lawyer. Not to be overlooked are the leaders of the Bar of the District of Columbia serving on the Faculty, many of them Alumni, and each a specialist in his particular field. The University is proud of, and grateful to, the Faculty. FHCQLW